The twilight language explores hidden meanings and synchromystic connections via onomatology (study of names) and toponymy (study of place names). This blog further investigates "name games" and "number coincidences" found in news and history. Examinations are also found in my book The Copycat Effect (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004).

Thursday, December 20, 2012

If A Mayan Knocks...

"Just to be safe, don't let any strangers wearing feathered headdresses into your home for the next 24 hours," tweeted, on Thursday morning, by a Mexican friend going by the handle Red Pill Junkie (RPJ).

Okay. That's worth a nervous bit of laughter.

So I searched for an appropriate image to go with RPJ's comment. Though not colorful, this first one I found (below) struck me. But I had not visualized a dwarf when I read RPJ's line. So why a little person, I asked myself?

Dwarfs were important members of royal Maya courts. They are portrayed serving food, playing musical instruments, holding sacred objects for the ruler, and as diviners and scribes. Their elevated social roles were steeped in cosmology and religious mythology, especially that of the maize god, who was assisted by a dwarf when the deity set the Three Stones of the cosmic hearth at the beginning of Creation. The Classic Maya viewed dwarfs as the living embodiment of the maize god's supernatural helpers, who continued their sacred duty in the regal court. Maya peoples today believe that earlier creations were populated by a race of dwarfs who now reside inside the earth, living below the ruins of the ancient cities. The ornate turban worn by this dwarf is typical of the courtly garb of key individuals serving the ruler. This so-called spangled turban headdress is especially connected to gods and humans associated with Creation and scribal duties. A curious feature of this dwarf is what may be a halved cacao pod held in his right hand. His cheeks are covered with what appears to be a thin, woven fabric; this recalls other figurines, many of which are dwarfs, with an unidentifiable material plastered to the lower half of their face. These features suggest the depiction of a formal rite. The graceful rendering of this figure and the exceptional attention to detail reveal the work of a master artist.

I pasted in the above paragraph, because this public domain image definitely needed explanation. Then I went back to Twitter to double-check RPJ's exact "headdress" wording, to make certain I had typed it correctly.

I don't know why I should be surprised, but here's what RPJ also posted soon after his first one, but I had not seen it: "In case a weird dwarf knocks on the door, have a pen in hand...."

That's sync-linking working on parallel planes, I'd say. (For more on the twilight language of suicidal dwarfs, see here.) At the top is a Yaxchilan ballplayer shown with two dwarfs.

During my undergraduate college years, I actually worked with Robert L. Rands, Ph. D., one of the first modern era archaeologist to work at Palenque. Hundreds of sherds later, I had great respect for what he would find there, even though it was not as exciting as what Mayan conspiracy theorists see in his results.

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About Me

Investigator of human and animal mysteries since 1960. Swamp Thing character "Coleman Wadsworth" in #4:7 and more in #4:8, is a tribute.
Author of over 35 books, including The Unidentified (1975), Mysterious America (1983/2007), Suicide Clusters (1987), Cryptozoology A to Z (1999), Bigfoot! (2003), The Copycat Effect (2004), and field guides.
Educated in anthropology-zoology at SIU-Carbondale, and psychiatric social work at Simmons College School of Social Work. Began doctoral work in anthropology (Brandeis University) and family violence (UNH). Taught at NE universities (1980 to 2003), while concurrently a senior researcher at the Muskie School (1983 to 1996), before retiring to write, lecture, consult, & open museum. Popular documentary course was taught for 23 semesters; appeared on C2C, The Larry King Show, MonsterQuest, Lost Tapes, In Search Of, and other tv programs.
Loren Coleman is a dedicated father (Caleb, Malcolm, Des), cryptozoologist, media consultant, and baseball fan.